Setbacks Lead To New Beginnings

This March I went on my annual trip to South Florida which lasted a little over 12 days. I thought I had everything figured out for the gardens while I was away but sadly things took a turn for the worst. All of my plants developed terrible root rot and all but two survived: a Tiny Tim tomato plant and the cherry tomato plant in the trellis unit. I did what I could to rehab those plants and ultimately it took excessive pruning of the roots and stems to recover them.

After losing the majority of my plants I felt unmotivated. I had no desire to start anew. I would pass by my gardens and would keep telling myself “I’ll get to them tomorrow.” Day after day. Then four months went by. I’m not sure what changed within me today but I looked at how sad my plants looked and sprung into rescue mode. How dare I make them suffer too!?

The first plant I worked on was the Tiny Tim. It was in an Aerogarden Bounty Elite with another Tiny Tim that was dead and had severe root rot. I had to do what I could to prevent this plant from seeing the same fate. I immediately cut out the dead plant, pruned the roots, pruned the stems (cut it down by about half), cleaned the Bounty Elite and added fresh water and nutrients. My plan was to leave this little guy alone. It didn’t need a neighbor. Through my little experience in hydroponics over the course of less than a year I finally understand what configuration works best for me.

See, in the beginning I was adding multiple seeds to a pod, filling all the holes in a unit and had no cohesive plan for the future meals I’d like to prepare with the herbs and vegetable I grow. Now I have a plan! I mapped everything out and made a list of frequent herbs and vegetables I consume.

I currently have three Aerogarden Bounty Elite’s and four Harvest Elite‘s (one is broken right now. I also have a Harvest 2.0 that I prefer not to use.) The first Bounty Elite houses two pods on the opposite end of one another. This is my lettuce making garden. The first pod has two Romaine lettuce seeds and the second pod has two Tom Thumb Dwarf Bibb lettuce seeds. I add seeds conservatively because I found more often than not I was successful with germinating and had too many sprouts left over.

To the right of the Bounty Elite is a Harvest Elite which contains two pods on the opposite end of one another. Both contain two chive seeds. Again, not trying to overcrowd the system as these plants tend to get large.

To the right of the Harvest Elite is another Bounty Elite with my pre-existing Tiny Tim tomato plant. To the right of that are my Mars Hydro 5 gallon buckets. The first bucket contains one pod with two Thai chili pepper seeds. The bucket directly next to it contains one pod with two Japanese spinach seeds.

To the right of the buckets is another Harvest Elite which contains two pods on the opposite end of one another. Both contain two Italian basil seeds. Then directly to the right of that is my cherry tomato trellis unit clinging to dear life. I feel everything I’m growing now will go to good use. Before I had too many pepper and tomato plants, as much as I love them, I needed a wider variety.

Plants endure even given tough scenarios or flighty owners. The cherry tomato plant in the trellis unit for instance overcame root rot five times and is still producing tasty fruit. Setbacks can sometimes be the motivation we weren’t necessarily looking for but needed. Don’t ever stop gardening!